Look Development Artist – Lead (Speculative)

Position: Look Development Artist – Lead

Hiring Range: $143,000 to $148,000/year for a 40 hour work week

Company Benefits: Extended healthcare from day 1, premiums 100% covered by Image Engine, up to 8 paid Health and Wellness days per year.

*Candidates are required to be based in British Columbia*

ABOUT IMAGE ENGINE 

Image Engine is a world-class VFX studio based in Vancouver, BC, that has built a reputation for excellence in the visual effects industry since 1995. We specialize in crafting stunning visual effects for feature films and television with an award-winning portfolio that includes The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Game Of Thrones, Lost in Space, Jurassic World, and District 9. 

We offer a full range of visual effects services, from concept designs and pre-visualization to CG animation, compositing, and explosive volumetric digital effects. Our crew is passionate about storytelling and pushing the artistic and technical boundaries to deliver the highest quality work on every project. R&D is central to our philosophy of driving creativity through innovation and we’re committed to continually evolving our robust production pipelines. 

At Image Engine, we value diversity and teamwork, and we’re proud to foster a workplace culture that is supportive, respectful, and empowering. We believe that our success is a reflection of our exceptionally talented team, and we’re always looking for passionate and dedicated individuals to join us on our mission to create unforgettable visual experiences. Join our team and be part of something extraordinary.

POSITION PURPOSE 

As a key member of the Look Development team, the Lead plays a vital role in the quality control and leadership of the team. They set a positive tone for the department by exhibiting constructive behavior and are responsible for defining the Look Development methodologies for their team.  They will provide leadership, training, guidance, and support to the rest of the team while still handling much of the hero work on active shows to ensure all deadlines are met. 

The Lead will also contribute to the overall operation and improvement of the Look Development team by setting and maintaining department standards. This will include, but will not be limited to, engaging in cross-department communication, providing solutions to critical issues, documentation, taking part in interviews and participating in the buddy system for new employees. They will also review artists’ work and help them meet the high standards of the studio.  In addition, the Lead will develop new processes and stay up to date on innovative technologies to keep the Look Development team on the cutting edge.

RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Collaborate with the Head of Assets, Assets Supervisors, CG Supervisors, and VFX Supervisors to ensure that every asset adheres to studio standards
• Create final look developed assets and environments
• Determine the broad technical and creative approach in conjunction with the department and show Supervisors
• Work in collaboration with the Texture, Model, Groom, and Rigging teams to ensure the efficient creation of assets
• Work in collaboration with downstream departments to ensure that work meets the highest standards
• Engages in the creation and execution of technical standards, pipeline conventions, and workflows to support the department, shows, and studio
• Work in collaboration with the Software Development, Pipeline, and Workflow departments to drive innovation and improvements in the Look Development pipeline and workflow
• Define specification documents and prototypes to aid the support teams
• Diagnose and resolve technical issues in conjunction with support teams and other department Leads, Supervisors, and show Supervisors
• Communicate successes and challenges faced by the team to the Asset Supervisor and Head of Department
• Work with the Assets Production to effectively schedule tasks, including casting work to the strengths of the individuals in the team
• Attend dailies, reviews, and team meetings as required
• Responsible for documentation, training, and education of Look Development artists
• Responsible for setting quality standards and ensuring they are met by the team
• Guide and inspire artists to create their best work
• Creates, models, and supports a positive work environment within the Look Development team and between departments
• Work with a team of artists in a hands-on capacity to ensure proper implementation of look developed assets
• Contributes to the development of team members by setting expectations, delivering consistent constructive feedback, providing recognition and accountability

EXPERIENCE 

• Substantial experience in high-end VFX or Feature Animation
• Demonstrated experience teaching and mentoring peers

• Notable experience leading teams of 5+ people
• History of developing toolsets, templates, and workflows on productions
• Experience rendering large datasets and environments
• Exposure to working as a lighter on high-end VFX or Feature Animation

SKILLS AND ABILITIES 

Core characteristics 

• Passionate, enthusiastic, curious, mindful
• Extraordinary attention for detail
• Ability to mentor, train, and lead artists
• Strong desire and ability to help artists grow technically, creatively, and as individuals
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment – taking, as well as giving, direction
• Excellent time management and communication skills
• Ability to multitask
• Demonstrated proactivity in identifying potential problems and working with others to provide solutions
• High level critical thinking
• Thorough understanding of film aesthetics (cameras, color theory, light, depth, scale, composition, and how those apply in a digital medium)
• Adapts quickly to new technologies and applications
• Ability to troubleshoot and deal with competing priorities while keeping the big picture in mind
• Strong vision for the team and desire to improve the quality of the work at Image Engine

Technical Attributes

• Strong understanding of Physically Based Rendering and its correlation to texturing, shading, and lighting when creating photorealistic assets and environments
• Ability to devise creative and efficient rendering solutions
• Understanding of modeling and texturing best practices (topology, subdivision, uv’s, etc)
• Thorough understanding of color spaces used in VFX
• Capable of matching external vendor assets 
• Strong knowledge of contemporary computer graphics software (Arnold, Mari, Substance, Maya, Nuke, etc)
• Experience with a Linux based OS
• Experience with OSL and Python scripting
• Able to write and modify custom shaders